A fitting of the prior art is shown in DE-GM Nos. 83 13 304.6 and 78 11 011. Both show a door connected to the fitting swinging toward the user during the opening operation whereby the user is forced to step back from the door to avoid being struck on the head. Such an arrangement can cause accidents and requires that the fitting be mounted low in the cupboard on the side wall thereby reducing shelf surface and diminishing the cupboard's usable volume.
Moreover, the use of flap fittings and foldable flap fittings are further limiting because they require the door to swing out above the upper edge of the cupboard thus making it impossible to build over the cupboard and requiring some space to be retained between the cupboard the kitchen ceiling. Such fittings are mainly suitable for relatively low doors. Because they are side-mounted, they usually take up a large share of the usable storage space of the cupboard.